Motor City Swapping Cooper with Gyllenhaal

Revenge flick “Motor City” was originally supposed to star Dominic Cooper (“The Devil’s Double”), but apparently scheduling conflicts has now made that impossible. Instead, Warner Bros. and Dark Castle, the company behind the film, have gone to Jake Gyllenhaal to take over the film’s leading man slot.

The “Source Code” star is reportedly in talks to star in the Albert Hughes-directed “Motor City”, which would find Gylleenhaal playing a felon who, upon his release from prison, sets out to find the men who framed him. Whatever happened to the days when felons recently released from prison just tried to get on with their lives? Just sayin’.

The film, from screenwriter Chad St. John, already has Amber Heard in the cast as the love interest, with Gary Oldman as a “kingpin-like” villain.

Gylleenhall has “Training Day” writer David Ayer’s “End of Watch” in the pipeline, and most recently took a studio action hero turn in “Prince of Persia” and the time travel sci-fi actioner “Source Code” for director Duncan Jones. “Motor City”, though, looks like a grittier turn. Perhaps a little dash of “Faster” (with Dwayne Johnson) and “Payback” (with Mel Gibson) from the sounds of it.